In the aftermath of Paul George's horrific leg injury, grumbles among NBA owners and general managers indicated that league officials are increasingly worried about star players being hurt while playing for their country.

While the examples are far and few between, George's injury put a shock into people around the league, as indicated by reports from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Now, the NBA's most outspoken owner has taken a stand against the International Olympic Committee.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban took issue with players suiting up for their country while NBA teams take on much of the financial risk. Similar to most, his first statement to ESPN.com's Marc Stein started with a heavy heart. "My thoughts go out to Paul. I really feel for him."

Stern quickly turned to his stance against the IOC, one that criticizes them for taking in loads of dollars without taking on the same level of risk as NBA teams.

"The [International Olympic Committee] is playing the NBA," Stern said. "The IOC is an organization that has been rife with corruption, to the point where a member was accused of trying to fix an Olympic event in Salt Lake. The IOC [pulls in] billions of dollars. They make a killing and make Tony Soprano look like a saint.

"The pros in multiple sports are smart enough to not play when they are eligible free agents. But teams take on huge financial risk so that the IOC committee members can line their pockets.

"The greatest trick ever played was the IOC convincing the world that the Olympics were about patriotism and national pride instead of money. The players and owners should get together and create our own World Cup of Basketball."

In George's case, the Indiana Pacers forward who recently signed a five-year, $90 million contract will now miss an entire season. He is slated to need 12-18 months in order to recover from a broken leg suffered during the Team USA open scrimmage.

As Stein reports, Cuban is not the only NBA owner who wishes players would sit out for international competition during the offseason. Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki has played for the German national team in the past, and Cuban did not enjoy watching his best player tax his body.

Cuban has maintained this stance for years, as Stein notes. In 2012, Cuban said it made no sense to allow players in the Olympics, considering the large investment teams make.

"It's just the epitome of stupidity that we would allow ourselves to be used so other corporations can make tens, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars," Cuban said. "There's some guys sitting at the Olympic headquarters going, 'Those dumbasses, we're taking all their best guys for nothing.' "

Cuban said at the time that he would rather the Olympic basketball format return to amateur players.

"I understand from Dirk's perspective," Cuban said then. "We should never put our athletes in that position. For some sports the Olympics are very, very important. For basketball, it's meaningless. It's not that they're not decent games. All things being equal, it's fun to watch us play Argentina and Spain, but it would be just as fun if they were 21 and under."